I was recommended to a person who's father had passed away recently. They could not access his laptop which meant they could not access any of his accounts. The problem was an unexpected loss of information due to an unexpected loss of a person, which can occur at any time. 

The reason the client could not recover the password on their own is that the account on the laptop was a local account only, so the recovery method built into windows requires forethought and a thumb drive. Had it been an online microsoft account they could have accessed and reset the password online.

They also had a list of passwords previously used, but the repeated attempts lead to the account being locked which slows down the process considerably.

My 82 year old client's husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s for 10 years.  

As his disease progressed, he was developed Lewy Body which causes movement issues, instability and balance issues. 

She had converted their dining room into a bedroom to make things easier for them both. 

But their biggest problems come from the features of their house. 

The only full bathrooms were upstairs. 

Both full bathrooms were tub shower combos, so it was challenging getting him in and out of the tub for bathing.

Plus, they had a drive under garage.  So when she had to take him to doctor’s appointments or to a care group that helped people with Alzheimer’s and their families, they had to go up and down those stairs too.

Then he took a fall.  He didn’t break anything but got badly bruised.  Then he fell again and almost took her with him. 

That really shook her because if he had landed on her, she would be stuck.  He was a big guy.  She worried they’d both die there on the floor of their home.

She beat herself up because she hadn’t moved them out of the house sooner.  After the falls, she knew she had to move now. 

They’d been in their house 37 years.

Scot Bowen Watt scheduled coffee because she wasn't getting referrals from her Team. 
She was a consumate, credible Public Relations professional, who had international associations and countries {!} on her client list.

The problem was:

• she was using the language of Public Releations to speak to Team Members.

The language for referrals is different.
What works on a website converts the reader into a prospect.
That language does not prime the reader to recognize referral opportunities.

Worse, that language keeps the reader thinking about themself instead of referral possibilities.
So the problem was:

• each week every Team Member was thinking "I don't need you."
  Full stop.

No more thinking.
No referral recognition.
No business.

For a business owner that's a problem.

My client, Sara, called me after buying her dream home. She was excited about decorating, moving furniture, and starting this new chapter. Insurance was the last thing on her mind.

When we started talking, I realized she assumed that because she had a homeowners policy, she was fully protected. She had never been asked about replacement cost, water backup, jewelry, or whether her liability limits actually fit her family’s lifestyle.

She wasn’t looking for ‘better insurance.’ She was looking for peace of mind without even realizing it.

The problem wasn’t that she didn’t have a policy. The problem was that she didn’t know what questions to ask, and no one had taken the time to ask them for her.

Arthur, an owner of a family business, and his spouse scheduled time with me because they had received several IRS notices and didn't know what to do. They weren't ignoring the problem because they didn't care. They were ignoring it because they were overwhelmed.

The problem was:

1) Every letter from the IRS increased their fear.

2) They were afraid to answer the phone because they thought it might be IRS debt collections.

3) They kept hoping the problem would somehow go away on its own.

They weren't looking for a tax preparer.

They were looking for relief from the stress that was following them every single day.

For most people, tax problems don't start with a levy or a lien.

The problem starts the moment someone says: "I don't even want to open my mail anymore."

That's the referral trigger.

When you hear someone say they're behind on taxes, afraid of the IRS, or losing sleep over tax notices, that's a tax problem.

My clients Aaron and Jill are expecting their first child. Adam called me asking about every possible test I could do on their new home. He wanted to make sure that the home was not only structurally and mechanically safe, but that the air was safe as well. Their problem was that they were buying an older home. They loved the neighborhood, but the home they chose did not have the energy efficiency or updated systems they wanted to ensure their family would be happy and safe in the home. They needed to know the exact issues they were going to have buying the house as is and how much money they would have to spend in order to bring the house up to their standards. Additionally, they had a very short due diligence period and needed the inspection next day. 

An estate planning attorney came to me because he was frustrated with his website.

He had already tried building one himself. Then he hired a marketing company. Then an expensive web developer. Each time, the website looked different, but the problem stayed the same.

It didn't communicate what made his firm different.

Prospective clients couldn't tell why they should choose his firm over dozens of other estate planning attorneys. The website didn't reflect his values, his process, or the experience clients actually have when they work with him.

He wasn't looking for a prettier website.

He was trying to solve a credibility problem. He needed a website that represented the quality of his firm before anyone ever picked up the phone.

Peter called me because his elderly sister had passed away, unexpectedly and without a will, in Peachtreee City, Georgia.  Peter lives in Pennslyvania. 

As her closest living relative he was responsible for her estate- which included going through the probate process, as well as the how to handle her finances, closing accounts, notifiying insurance, Social Security, the post office (who knew that would be the second hardest to deal with?!), etc, as well as determining what to do with her house, car, golf cart and all of her  personal items and furniture.

He needed help for the week he planned to be here, as well as for the coming months.

Let me tell you about Brian and Heidi.

Brian is 63, Heidi is 62, and they're healthy retirees—too young for Medicare yet still needing health insurance.

The problem is: Their COBRA coverage expires at the end of September, and suddenly they're facing a problem that many early retirees don't see coming.

They started shopping for health insurance and discovered that because of their income, they don't qualify for any financial assistance on the ACA Marketplace. The only plans available to them in Georgia are HMOs, and the premium to cover them is nearly $3,000 per month.

Imagine spending decades planning for retirement only to discover that health insurance could cost $36,000 a year before even using it.

💡 I'm looking for referrals to healthy adults ages 55 to 64 who are retiring before they are eligible for Medicare and are worried about what health insurance will cost. They may be facing the same challenge Brian and Heidi are facing today.

My client Shelly contacted me at the beginning of October.  We had a good conversation, but ultimately she wasn't ready to face her issues.  Fast forward to the end of May; she texted me and said: "I am sooo ready now."   The problem:  she is eligible to retire, but she has so much debt that she can't realistically take that into retirement and be able to live with dignity.  She is also dealing with a lot of emotion around that debt...guilt, shame, anger, which has made it hard to move forward with any type of plan to eliminate it and be able to retire. 

Cheryl is one of my best clients to this day. When I first met Cheryl, she told me that she had a horrible experience with the previous contractor she worked with. The contractor filed a claim with her insurance and she never heard back from the contractor. Cheryl still had active leaks and she was so stressed to go out of town to see her kids. Every time Cheryl would leave, she was so worried that she would come back to water intrusion in the home. 

The problem was not that the roof leaks were not fixable or that she did not have the funds to have the work done, she was just stressed about who to trust to do the work. Cheryl was very reassured to have me guide her step by step through the process and have a contractor who actually cared for her!!!

I was talking with one of my patients recently, and she said something that really stuck with me. She told me, ‘I have a primary care doctor, but I never feel like I actually have a primary care provider.’ She was tired of waiting three or four weeks just to be seen, and when she finally got an appointment, she felt rushed. She had high blood pressure and was trying to lose weight, but she didn’t know who to call when questions came up between visits. Every little issue turned into an urgent care visit because she couldn’t get in to see her provider. She wasn’t looking for anything extraordinary. She just wanted someone who knew her, someone she could actually reach, and someone who would take the time to listen. It made me realize there are probably a lot of people out there who feel like they have healthcare, but don’t really feel cared for.

A homeowner called me because they had received a notice from their HOA.

Their house had turned green from mold, mildew, and algae, and they were worried about getting fined.

They had tried to clean it themselves, but it didn't work.

They felt stressed, embarrassed, and didn't know who to call before the deadline.

If you hear someone say, 'My house is turning green,' 'I got an HOA letter,' or 'My driveway is black and slippery,' that's the problem I want you to remember.

Referrals come from recognizing those problems before people even know who to call.

Julia wanted to go to Georgia Tech to major in biology and, eventually, become an OBGYN. She had an offer from Georgia Tech for a full-tuition swimming scholarship. The only problem was that she had a 22 on the ACT, but she needed a 26 to get the scholarship.

The owner of a Garage Door Company was called to a friend's home because she was late to work and couldn't get her SUV out of the garage.  My friend was in a panic as she needed to drop her cute as a button son off at daycare before pitching the biggest contract of her career and now she was going to be late. I went over, picked up the little cutie and called her an Uber. After she was safely on her way to get to her BIG DAY, the Garage Door Repairman came to fix what started this whole day off on the wrong foot. One would say, problem solved, no harm done....but you know what the real problem was??  Her husband was the Garage Door Repair Business Owner, and he had been too busy wearing too many business hats to get his own garage door repaired when it slipped off the track. He looked worn out as he said, "Thank you - I don't know what I wouldn't have done without you! I have been so busy lately that I haven't had the time to do the things I really need to do. Jobs in the field are taking longer than they used to because my secretary is out on maternity leave for the next six months." Just then his phone rang as he was on the ladder trying to move a gear and he was fumbling to slide the arrow on to answer. After the call, he looked at me and said, "I don't know how owner operated companies get anything done!"

My client came to me after being turned down for conventional financing. She was successfully self-employed and earned substantial income, but like many business owners, she used legitimate tax deductions to reduce her taxable income. Those deductions made good financial sense for her business, but they created a major problem when she tried to qualify for a mortgage.

On paper, the conventional lending process recognized only a fraction of the income her business actually generated. Based on her tax returns, she qualified for a mortgage of only about $300,000, which was far below what she needed to purchase the type of home she could realistically afford.

She felt trapped between two competing goals: responsibly managing her tax liability and having her true earning capacity recognized by a mortgage lender. I would love referrals to self-employed borrowers who earn strong income but have been denied or severely limited because of the deductions shown on their tax returns.

I want to tell you about an estate attorney who came to me with a problem that had nothing to do with photography.

She told me, "Bre, I know I'm good at what I do... but when people find me online, they don't see the confidence my clients experience in person."

Think about that for a second.

Estate planning is one of the most emotional decisions a family can make. People are trusting someone with their legacy, their children, and everything they've worked for. But her website and LinkedIn photo didn't reflect that level of trust. The images felt dated, stiff, and disconnected from who she really was.

She worried that potential clients were making a decision before she ever had the chance to speak with them.

Not because of her credentials.
Not because of her experience.
But because of the first impression her visuals were creating.

Every day she delayed updating them, she wondered how many consultations she never got... simply because people didn't feel confident enough to make that first call.

"I dont understand my retirement options or what I will have for income when my wife and I retire"

Unfortunately, this is a common problem and concern for many of our clients, regardless of them being federal employees, state education employees or ones that work in the private sector with corporate America.

People are not told or completely explained their benefits, pensions, retirement accounts, health care or anything that matters for their future retirements.

I am very good at explaining everything to prospects and clients so that we can both write down what to expect and how to plan properly.

Husband and wife, John and Sally, are the owners of a company where they had realized some success. However, sales began to plateau and profitability declined. Both John and Sally were also working more hours and started to feel burned out. To move ahead, they knew something had to change, but they weren't sure what. The problem was they had tried several things they had read about, including:

• Hiring people, 
• Paying other consultants,
• Continuing to focus on sales generation. 

Each of these was based on advice they had read about, but none helped solve the issues they experienced. If they didn't fix this, they would end up in bankruptcy court. 

My client, Stephen Smith, has inherited his father's retirement account. Moreover, according to the IRS, he had to pay taxes before he could access the funds because it was a traditional IRA.  Mr. Smith wanted to evaluate his options and strategize the best option in his current situation.  In addition, he understood that he was in a lower tax bracket now than he would be in the near future, but he also needed access to the funds for him and his family.  We continued to evaluate his options based on need vs tax strategy.

Before becoming my client, Mr. Anthony Hall came to me, looking to completely forget about the burden of bookkeeping for his business, upon our first discovery call, I took notes of his pain points:

1) Not having the knowledge to operate and do his own bookkeeping

2) Not being able to spend quality time with his family because even on vacation he was doing his own bookkeeping the best way he could

3) He could not concentrate in other areas of his business due to bookkeeping not being up to date

4) He was always rushing when tax season was just around the corner

It became such an issue that he didn't even want to answer a call or email from his CPA, especially as his former bookkeeper suddenly dissapeared, therefore he knew he would not be ready to have a straight answer to the CPA questions, when you do not know your business financial numbers, or numbers do not make sense, you have a bookkeeping problem.

He led a veteran nonprofit with a single mission but lacked the resources to consistently reach the veterans who needed their services most. 

There were trusted community partners and a committed team, yet too many veterans never knew free help was available.

More revenue was needed to expand impact, but without a consistent marketing budget, long-term growth was difficult. 

As more veterans sought help, the organization needed additional funding and clinical staff to support them.

Sometimes the biggest challenge isn't the mission itself. It's making sure the people who need it can actually find it.

"In commercial real estate, clients come to me with a problem. Space too small. Space too big. Noisy neighbor. But sometimes the real problem shows up mid-search.

Right now I've got a Kosher Butcher client. Not just a butcher — he wants a Deli, Butcher, Caterer, and Bakery, all in one space. He's found the perfect location for it. But everything — layout, equipment, even how the kitchens are separated — has to follow Kosher Jewish dietary law. This isn't a normal build-out. It's construction and religious compliance, tangled together.

And there's no time to figure it out slowly. Another tenant wants that same space, and they're ready to move faster than we are. So while we're working through what it takes to make this space kosher-compliant, I'm still out there scouting backups nearby — just in case we lose it."

Last year, Coach K (not THAT one) came to me in full panic mode. Her girls' soccer team had a tournament that upcoming weekend, and they were supposed to have brand-new home and away jerseys. She had done what most people do—ordered online well in advance—but as the tournament got closer, it became obvious the jerseys weren't going to arrive in time.

Now she wasn't just worried about shirts. She was worried about disappointing a team of excited girls who had been looking forward to wearing their new uniforms. She was wondering if they'd have to borrow mismatched jerseys, play without their team identity, or even scramble to find a last-minute backup. Every day that passed increased the stress because there simply wasn't enough time to place another online order and hope for the best.

If you've ever met a coach, team parent, or league organizer who's counting down to a tournament and suddenly realizes their apparel isn't going to arrive on time, I'd love an introduction...I'd be a great resource for them on the front end of this issue as well, of course.

The Lewis's need a home with all of these characteristics: a place to park their RV, an inground pool, space inside the house in case one or both of the grown kids want to move back in. And maybe a shed for the furniture refinishing side hustle. Plus a sunny spot for a vegetable garden. Oh wait there's more.... but I don't need to enumerate it all.

The point is that the priorities on the list often shift. Day 1, square footage was top priority. But a few damaged pools later, priorities shifted. Maybe the RV can be stored offsite? The commute time felt like it deserved more consideration too.

Luckily, we are all on the hunt and plus we have tech on our side too, searching all over town. And then there's the fact that finding the right place is just the first step. 

My client Mark, commercial construction. He has a staff accountant, accounts receivable, account payable, payroll but wasn't able to put on paper where the company was expected to be by yearend. He just did the math in his head anytime there was a meeting. His revenue was $65m - these are not small numbers! His leadership team was asking and deserved to see projections in black and white, on paper, proving the math worked. He needed to offload the mental capacity. He felt like he was constantly having to perform the mental math anytime a leadership discussion was taking place - rather than being able to focus with the team on strategy.

My Client John, sent me a message on my web site on Memorial Day. I responded with my phone number and he called me. 

His problem as he outlined was he has a letter from an IRS Revenue office with a scheduled interview date at the IRS office downtown Atlanta in three weeks and he was completely lost. He wanted to know what to do. 

I spoke to him for about 15 minutes and determined that he has not filed a tax return  since 2019. He received multiple IRS notices and he has done nothing to address them. 

His three main problems are: 1) he is very disorganized 2) he frequently puts off things and most critical 3) he tends to respond slowly or never to important things

Does this sounds familiar? many folks who do not file tax returns on time or never, have at least one, sometimes all three of these characteristics.

A lot of the people who call us aren’t excited about moving—they’re overwhelmed. They’ve already spent weeks packing, coordinating closing dates, transferring utilities, and trying to keep work and family life running. Then they realize they either don’t have enough help, they’re worried about damaging expensive furniture, or the friends who promised to help suddenly aren’t available. Many have strict timelines with homes that have to be emptied by a certain day, and they’re terrified that one delay could cost them money or derail their entire move. By the time they reach out, they’re usually stressed, exhausted, and just looking for someone they can trust to make the process go smoothly.

A new client recently told me he manages two YouTube channels: his own and the channel for the company where he works. He has hired several video editors, but after sending them footage, he ends up waiting weeks or even months for a finished video. Eventually, he takes the work back and edits it himself, which puts him even further behind as new footage piles up.

Next week, he’ll be filming daily vlog-style videos at an audio convention. Each video needs to go live within 24 hours while the event is still happening. If one edit arrives a day late, he already has another full day of footage waiting. He needs an editor he can trust to meet that deadline, so he isn’t left managing two channels and editing every video himself.